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V6 TDI off-road wheels and tires

67K views 44 replies 25 participants last post by  Hazard-GolfR 
#1 ·
Hi guys. I've got an 09 V6 TDI with the 19" factory wheels. My abysmal Continental tires that came on my Touareg are at the end of their life. I spend a lot of time off road, and I'd like to get a good set of off-road tires; however, there are not any good options that I can find for the stock wheels.

Does anyone know of any good off-road/all terrain tires for the 19" wheels? If there are indeed none, which set of wheels should I buy to maximize my tire options?

Thanks!
 
#2 ·
Does anyone know of any good off-road/all terrain tires for the 19" wheels? If there are indeed none, which set of wheels should I buy to maximize my tire options?
You're wasting your time looking for off-road rubber for 19" wheels. Go 17" (the smallest you can fit on a V6TDI) and you'd have plenty tyre options.

In 17" the best two sizes are 265/65R17 or 245/70R17. These two sizes have very similar diameters and are slightly larger than the OE spec, which gives you a little extra ground clearence without any interference issues on the car. It also puts your speedo basically spot-on accurate.

If your off-road driving involves a lot of snow, go for the narrower 245/70. If you do more sand, go for the 265/65.

I'm not going to go into brand preference as opinions differ. Do a search here for plenty more info.

HTH ;)
 
#3 ·
2nd what AndrieK said.
 
#4 ·
I'm a big believer in having two sets of tires and wheels, but there are some 19" off road tires out there. If you can spend the money go 17 or 18" and get some Nitto Grapplers and go play in the dirt. Yokohama makes some very nice street tires wih tread wear numbers in the 400 range that will last. Look for 108 or 109 load ratings, the Treg is a heavy beast.
 
#5 ·
If you're hell-bent on offroading with 19's, Pirelli offers their ATR in 255/55R19. I know of at least one member that runs these (canon_mutant). Otherwise, AT tires on a set of 17" or 18" wheels would be your best bet, as others have said.

Andrie's listed consensus sizes for snow and sand. I drive through both, and will probably split the difference with AT's in 255/65R17.

Good luck with the decision. Let us know what you choose & how it works out.
 
#6 ·
You are much better off with 17s or 18s which yield more choices which yield lower prices.

That said, these DO work:



 
#8 ·
Go to 18's - you'll only need one set if you fit decent A/T's. I cannot speak highly enough of Hankook Dynapro RF10's as a great all-round solution. In terms of fitness for purpose, they are the best tyres I've ever fitted on any vehicle I've owned.
 
#9 ·
My 19s are working out fine but you're still "better off" with 17s or 18s and will have much higher tire selection which means lower tire prices.

Keeping my 19s was the best solution "for me" and have had no problems, to date. I cannot say enough good things about the Pirelli ATR tires either. Bought a set for my Ford Ranger I like them so much.
 
#12 ·
I just put a set of 265/65 R17 BF Goodrich All-Terrain TA KO's and they are wonderful. I was having trouble finding a matching Makalu wheel for a full size spare for a decent price. Discount Tire has a database of wheels taken off cars when owners swap wheels for aftermarket, they found four Makalu 17" wheels in Southern California.
$100 for one wheel and they cover shipping. So check them out for a set of used 17's.
If I'm lucky TPMS will still be on the wheel.
 
#13 ·
18, 19 or 20

Thought I'd post here versus new thread b/c you guys have good insight ... I have 17's on '10 TDI now with Pirelli Scorpion STR. Pretty squishy for handling. So in the Summer I had been thinking about a second set of wheels and was set on 20's. Until reading this thread.

That said, here's my conundrum: yes, 99% of my driving is on-road. BUT, in the Summer I drive out to Colorado where we do some pretty serious off-roading to get to trailheads. So my question is: are 20's truly, seriously going to be completely useless off-road just b/c of the wheel size, or, are they just not as desirable? Should I seriously consider 19's instead? Thanks!
 
#14 ·
Thought I'd post here versus new thread b/c you guys have good insight ... I have 17's on '10 TDI now with Pirelli Scorpion STR. Pretty squishy for handling. So in the Summer I had been thinking about a second set of wheels and was set on 20's. Until reading this thread.

That said, here's my conundrum: yes, 99% of my driving is on-road. BUT, in the Summer I drive out to Colorado where we do some pretty serious off-roading to get to trailheads. So my question is: are 20's truly, seriously going to be completely useless off-road just b/c of the wheel size, or, are they just not as desirable? Should I seriously consider 19's instead? Thanks!
You seriously should keep the 17" if you are going to offroad at all. At the very least as a middle ground go with 18". Cannonmutant has 19" and did fine on the Rally last year with his Pirelli ATR's, but it still made him nervous since he did not have the sidewall height those of us with 17 and 18 did. 20" is even worse with low sidewalls. I personally would stick with 17" and my TDI came into port with 19 and I had the dealer swap them out for 17".
 
#16 ·
For offroad Cooper make the LTZ in 18 & 20 inch sizes. Great looking, performing tyre despite being a lower profile!
Try it out, you should be pleased...
For 19s try the goodyear MTR, aggressive offroad tyre
 
#41 ·
I have the same conundrum, with 20 inch wheels on an MY 20 R-line which I just got. For average dirt tracks and corrugations will the 20 inch with all terrains perform well enough? I am mainly interested in avoiding punctures and good enough grip. I am not off-road that much. I am considering bringing in some 18 inch wheels from overseas, but the cost isn't that appealing. Can you or anyone comment on the performance of the Coopers or similar all terrains on 20 inch wheels on the Touareg based on experience?
 
#18 ·
I think I'm asking a different question: I am keeping the 17's, I will off-road and drive snow on the 17's, and I'm *not* looking for the *perfect* combo. Au contraire. I want to know if 20's *by definition* absolutely will not perform off-road b/c of wheel size. I want to know if I can get by on 20's off-road with high profile M+S tires. Or should the second set of wheels be 19's because that size is so far and above a better off-road option that I shouldn't even consider 20's. Sounds to me - like all things - it's highly subjective. But I can't imagine those Coopers recommended by Singh not performing pretty dang well even on Colorado single-track. Those things are beefy. If anyone knows 20's to be a horrific call for even remotely getting off the beaten, then by all means let me know. Thanks guys!
 
#19 ·
I want to know if 20's *by definition* absolutely will not perform off-road b/c of wheel size. I want to know if I can get by on 20's off-road with high profile M+S tires. Or should the second set of wheels be 19's because that size is so far and above a better off-road option that I shouldn't even consider 20's.
The problem with 20" wheels and offroading on our trucks as you can't fit anything with a high profile sidewall in that wheel size. I know there are plenty of new pickup trucks and other SUV's that are coming with 20" wheels that can fit a decently high profile tire, but that's not the case with the Touareg. So, on the Touareg, a 20" wheel and offroad is a very, very bad idea.

Nineteen inch wheels would be *slightly* better, but still a bad idea for anything approaching gnarly. I wouldn't even consider buying a set of 19" wheels since the tire selection is so poor (especially for any aggressive tread.) Avoid these too.

If you are going to be doing "pretty serious off-roading" (your words) 17" or 18" wheels are the only way to go with the 17" wheels having the edge.

If anyone knows 20's to be a horrific call for even remotely getting off the beaten, then by all means let me know. Thanks guys!
I wouldn't drive over a curb in the mall parking lot with a Touareg on 20's let alone go anywhere described as off the beaten path.
 
#23 ·
I had been looking for good offroad tires for my stock 19"wheels a while and could not find anything online. I finally contacted a local wheel and tire company and they got me some Goodyear Wrangler MT's. They are awesome! Slightly larger than my stock performance tires but not much with no rubbing. They have a very aggressive look which I wanted and ride great. They are a bit noisy but since the egg is insulated well its no big deal. So far I love them. Not much off-roading in them yet just some basic dirt roads but I'll let you guys know how they do and post some pics soon.
 
#25 ·
How do those BF Goodrich A/T's in the 17" version hold up for mileage on the car before needing replacement? Can one install the 17" version on a 2012 Sport TDI, will it fit with the disc brakes?

Also, how do the brake pads hold up on these, and are there better options like ceramic brake pads for when you do a brake job to replace the originals?
 
#26 ·
My '08 came with 19's and great road tires (conti DWS) but wouldn't want to do much off road with them. Agree with above about sidewall and rim damage.

I got some aftermarket AT italia 17" rims and put Nokian Vatiiva AT tires on them. I use them in the winter and they are my summer back ups if I decide to get in the dirt.
 
#27 ·
I got some aftermarket AT italia 17" rims and put Nokian Vatiiva AT tires on them. I use them in the winter and they are my summer back ups if I decide to get in the dirt.
Never heard of those ATs so Googled - they look good but these MTs are something else . . . :joy:

Nokian Vatiiva M/T MT Tire Reviews

The 265/70/17 might JUST squeeze in the Touareg wheel arches!
 
#28 ·
#30 ·
Yeti said:
Funny you mention the Nokians. I was looking for a set of those a few years ago and the shop I was going to buy them from talked me out of them and into Cooper Discoverer ATR's. Cooper makes those Nokians for them and if you compare the two they are the exact same tread pattern and the Coopers are cheaper. Just an FYI for when the Nokians wear out and you want to save some money on the next set.
I actually looked for those but but they are now on to the AT 3, which has a lot less tread void and siping. I guess they are not making the Vatiiva anymore either.

I looked at the general grabber AT2 also, which is cheap, has good offroad tread, and the mountain/snowflake severe condition rating. Ended up with the nokian mostly because we have a real good nokian shop locally.
 
#31 ·
I watched the videos of the VW Touareg TDI's 16,000 miles Pan American Challenge (tip of somewhere, South America to the tip of somewhere in some knife, Alaska). The claim to fame is they shaved a few days off the record. Even as Continental was one of the sponsors, the video just briefly mentions they selected other than oem tires (no specifics) to run this 16,000 miles challenge, aka third world roads?

So you might want to click off an email to Continental RE: VW Touareg tire specifications for the 2011/2012 Pan American 16,000 miles Challenge.

I have both a lot of time and more importantly mileage (828,000) on TLC's 275/70/16's. The nexus here are 1991 to 1997 TLC are made for third world roads and weight app the same as the VWT @ 4975#'s. but as one moderator Andriek says, it is better to get a more common size (he says 17 in fits VW T's) as it offers more vendors and hopefully FAR cheaper prices than some odd and specific sizes i.e., VW T 19, 20 in sizes.
 
#32 ·
Hey everyone. It's been a while since I've been on the board. It's time for new tires and I'm thinking about the Goodyear Duratracs.
Living in Colorado I can't decide between the 265/65/17 or the 245/70/17.
The only major difference is that the 245s are 3/4" thinner.
What will this equate to in my driving?

On another note, how do these handle, how long do they last, and what's the road noise like?

Oddly enough I don't go offroading much at all since moving to Colorado so I even considered just getting good road tires but since these are rated for snow they seem to be the good option?
 
#34 ·
I still have some Nokian AT tires on 17" rims for sale if you're interested in going that route. I used them as my winter wheels and was very happy with them, and they were way better for light off road than the 20" contis that I had. I'm in Breckenridge if you want to check them out.
 
#33 ·
There are plenty of threads on All Terrain tires to search for that will have suggestions for tire size and mfgr for you.

I do not have Duratrac's on the Touareg, but I have a set on my 2011 F-250 Super Duty plow truck. I can tell you 4 things about them:
1. They look good: big lugs that wrap around the sides of the tire
2. Very good for deep snow and mud traction
3. Noisy on the highway and a bit squirmy
4. Not good on ice...unless you have them siped with extra sipes at a tire specialty shop. The ice traction is good after additional sipes added, more like a dedicated winter set. (see photos). The straight sipes are the ones that were added. The squiggle sipes are the factory originals.

If you don't do much off roading, than I think there are better tire choices for you to give better on-road handling and reduced noise with as good snow traction. Go to Tire Rack.com and look up the raitings for the tires in your size.

In you situation, I think you'd be better served with another brand/tread design. Something less aggressive. Unless you are going for the Zombie Apocalypse thing. Then do a search for that and you'll be reading threads for quite some time.
 

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#35 ·
Thanks guys. I'm also looking at the Toyo Open Country AT2. What's the difference between a P rating and LT rating? Which one do I need?

I want the tires to be able to handle light off-roading - fire roads and other trails but no mudding or rock climbing. Main concern is highway and ice/snow handling though.

I spent a lot of time searching last night but it's kind of an information overload situation with the site now.

All that said, I do like the zombie apocolypse look ;)
 
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